Pumping apparatus for deep wells



Dec. 16, 1969 BENDER 3,483,828

PUMPING APPARATUS FOR DEEP WELLS Filed July 29, 1968 E H i WEIGHT INVENTOR I 507/7 A. Bender MR m A AZTORNEY United States Patent 3,483,828 PUMPING APPARATUS FOR DEEP WELLS Emil A. Bender, P.O. Box 52, Bakersfield, Calif. 93307 Filed July 29, 1968, Ser. No. 748,378 Int. Cl. F04b 47/14; G05g 1/00 US. Cl. 103206 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the art This invention is a modification of that disclosed in my Patent No. 3,345,950. According to both inventions a tower is provided on a movable platform adjacent to the well; the tower being somewhat greater in height than the stroke of the pump being used. Although long stroke piston pumps are available in the art, their use is much less common than that of short stroke pumps. I prefer a pump having a stroke of 32 feet.

As in my prior patent, I hang a counterweight from the top of the tower, by means of chain, supporting the pumping string. However in my present invention, the chain is merely trained over toothed wheels and the drive mechanism is located more conveniently on the floor of the pumping platform.

The braking system is retained and located on floor with the drive apparatus.

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation view, to a greatly reduced scale with a central portion shown broken away, of the above ground structure of the present invention; and

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation view taken at right angles to the view of FIG. 1 and facing the working side of the well.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a tower provided with four corner posts 12, each made up of appropriate steel sections such as angles, channels and the tubing. These rest upon a skid platform 14 made up of additional sections such as beams and the like. The base platform 14 rests in turn upon a pair of channels 16, so that the entire tower and base may be skidded back from the well head 18 to permit the well to be serviced. As will be well understood by those skilled in the art, the well head 18 is of much more complex structure than is shown; the present schematic showing is sufficient for the purpose of this invention.

The tower is built up with girts 20 and braces 22 and surmounted with a top platform 24. All of the elements 10-16 and 20 24 are fabricated of appropriate steel sections welded or riveted together as is common in oil field practice. For convenience in erection, the tower may be hinged at the rear at 26 and bolted or wedge locked at the front (not shown) during use.

The well head structure is shown in FIGURE 2 as having a packing device 28, through which passes the uppermost pump rod 30, commonly called the polish Patented Dec. 16, 1969 rod. The polish rod is shown schematically passing through a yoke 32 and secured by a nut 34.

At the top of the tower a pair of toothed wheels 36 are keyed to shaft 38 mounted for rotation in bearings 40. These bearings 40 are supported upon platform 24 in conventional fashion to permit free rotation of the wheels 36.

The yoke 32 and the counterweight 44 are hung on the toothed Wheels 36 by means of chains 42 passing over the wheels 36. Thus, the entire load of the pump rods and liquid being pumped on one side and the counterweight on the other, is suspended from the platform 24. The counterweight is formed of a hollow box containing a suitable quantity of weights, normally matching the rod load and about half of the weight of oil being pumped. Thus, the actual pumping effort is kept at a low figure.

The power required for pumping is supplied by engine 46, which may be gas, electric or diesel powered; this is shown diagrammatically at 48 being connected to a reversing unit and clutch and this in turn drives a gear reducing unit 50 having shaft 52 with outer beaming 54.

Keyed to the shaft 52 are a pair of toothed wheels 56 for driving power chains 58. The drive chains 58 are secured to the underside of the counterweight 44 at 60 and to the yoke 32.

Thus, with the main load of the rods, oil being pumped and counterweight being carried by chains 42 hung from the structure on platform 24, only the actual pumping effort is carried by chains 58.

It should be pointed out that the reversing mechanism 48 responds to controls (not shown) similar to those indicated by reference numerals 56 to 68 in my prior Patent 3,345,950 to reverse the motion of the chain 58, as the pump reaches the top and bottom of its stroke. Likewise, although not shown, the wellhead 18 is provided with conventional means for carrying away the fluid pumped from the producing horizon. For security, a brake system is provided in the event of failure of any part of the suspension or drive apparatus. The brake is also effective in holding the apparatus in a desired position while the well is being serviced.

The apparatus of the present invention enables the motion and drive mechanism to be located at the base of the tower supporting the pump string, where it is more accessible for service and with less load on platform 24. The addition of chain 58 connecting the counterweight and the yoke stabilizes the counterweight. Additionally the pumping power is applied outside the portion of the system supporting the weight of the rods to better distribute the stress in the system.

Additional embodiments of the invention in this specification will occur to others and therefore it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited only by the appended claims and not by the embodiments described hereinabove. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims in determining the full scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Pumping apparatus for an oil well or the like having a pump including a vertically reciprocating rod string operated by a reciprocating motive means comprising a tower of greater height than the stroke of the pump, a coaxial pair of wheels mounted adjacent the top of the tower, a yoke coupled to the top of the pumping rod, a counterweight, a pair of chains trained over the pair of wheels, suspending the counterweight at one of their ends and the yoke at the other, a second pair of wheels arranged below the counterweight and the yoke, a second pair of chains trained over the second Wheels and connecting the counterweight and the yoke and means for driving the second wheels.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein the counterweight amounts to about half the weight of the oil plus the weight of the rods.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein means are pro- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1964 Sadouet 103206 5/1966 Bender 7459() XR pumping stroke. 

